Will Religion Rise Again?

Will Boomers return to church?

 

The jury is still out on that. But never say never because Boomers do like to buck the trends, says a recent Christian Century article by Janice Lloyd.

 

Vern Bengston, a professor emeritus of gerontology recently published “Families and Faith” based on a 35 year, six generation longitudinal study of families in California.  Bengston says that as we age, we have more time to consider the meaning of our lives.  We also recognize the march of mortality as friends get sick and die and grandchildren ask deep questions.

 

The “nones,” those with no traditional religious affiliation are growing but they are a varied group.  Some are anti-religious but others are still searching for a religious group that fits their experience.

 

Bengston is an example of someone who has made a shift toward religion late in life.

 

“ I came from a conservative religious family. When I started to question my faith during college, my mother said if she had to do so she would pick Jesus over me. She ended up rejecting me. It broke her heart and mine. I was an atheist for 35 years. But when I retired, I walked into a progressive church on Easter Sunday, heard the choir singing and was utterly surprised by joy, as C.S. Lewis described his own later-life religious experience. I haven’t stopped going to church. If there is a heaven and if my mother is there, I think she’d say “I told you so.”